Mental Health

According to the World Health Organization, “when compared to all other diseases (such as cancer and heart disease), mental illness ranks first in terms of causing disability in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.” The WHO study also found that “mental illness (including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) accounts for 25% of all disability across major industrialized countries.”

The public needs to know that mental illness is simply a disorder that either affects or becomes manifested in the brain. These are real illnesses that, like most physical diseases, require and generally respond well to treatment.